Something I noticed about the way the fantasy world of "Aanuu" developed has itself developed into a rather quixotic task. When I first entered the hallowed halls of Oklahoma State University, more specifically when I started wandering along the endless shelves of the Edmond Low Library, I began picking historical, legendary, mythological and fortean/paranormal tid-bits from its many books and journals that seemed almost predisposed to gather together in a milieu of strange lands, peoples and creatures.
I spent most of my spare time winnowing out stories of cryptozoological beasts like the Mokele-mbembe, the Chemosit, and the Agogwe, or mythical countries like Norumbega, Tolopan, and Hyperborea, and magical characters like Aristeas the Wanderer and the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Eventually I cobbled them together (more-or-less) to create the backdrop for what I hoped would be many novels and stories of fantasy.
How well I accomplished that remains to be seen, but I remembered something a few weeks ago: I wrote down endless notes in longhand during my four years at OSU, on legends, fairy tales, mysterious disappearances of people and objects, new monsters to roam the land, story fragments, you name it. Also, in all that time, all my notes went into a single, spiral-bound, college notebook.
The notebook was a Mead college-ruled, 9 1/2-by-6 inch, 5 subject notebook with two hundred sheets. Unlike modern notebooks, it had a rather rough cardboard cover. I bought a pack of three to start my freshman year. One had a bright yellow cover, one bright red, and one a very dark blue. The blue one contained my notes on the "Fantasy World Project." As you might imagine, entries appeared as I came across interesting folklore or legends (or simply made something up), so there should have been no rhyme or reason to Aanuu's development. Yet, in retrospect, there did seem to be a kind of progression . . .
Now the quixotic part: I'm going to re-create the notebook. Ideally, I'd use a Mead of the exact same kind I used in college -- and the same color. They don't make those anymore, and I'm not sure they go up to 200 sheets now. Biggest I've found are 180. That original book of notes disappeared with most of my other college papers years ago. But I still have its somewhat beat-up yellow package-mate.
The yellow book was mostly full of its own old notes -- but there were some blank pages, and I could say the same about various other Mead books -- and all the 9 1/2 x 6 ones used the same kind of spiral notepaper. So I Frankenstein-ishly uncoiled the yellow book's spiral, gathered 200 blank pages in 5 sets of 40 (with dividers), and threaded them together. Now I have a notebook identical to my old Fantasy World book. It isn't the navy blue cover, but it literally possesses the cover of one of its sisters.
And now I'm trying to re-create the notes I wrote back in college. I vaguely recall which books I came upon at OSU, and in what order (each one seemed to make a great impression on me). I even remember when two different subjects would collide, seemingly pulled together by some outside magnetism (The Pied Piper, the Children's Crusade, and the Black death). Heck, I may try to publish this facsimile notebook someday -- I think it will be almost 80% accurate. Perhaps a curiosity, a study on how one author thought.
If nothing else, it's a fun romp down memory lane!
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